Purchase warning! Thermalright TF8 in the 2025 Quality Test - Fraudulent labeling with a worse paste under the same name (2025)

It is a personal concern of mine to always find the best and cheapest products for you. That’s why I regularly carry out tests, especially when I receive more and more feedback from users who are suddenly dissatisfied with the quality of a product. Unfortunately, in this context I have to withdraw the purchase award for the Thermalright TF8 thermal compound and change it to a non-purchase recommendation. Two test purchases on Amazon Germany and in Austria have underpinned this decision. In one case, a user told me about increased temperatures after switching to the TF8 paste, which indicates possible quality problems, while others wrote to me about a completely different, far too liquid consistency.

Foreword

You could almost think that the manufacturers of heat-conducting pastes had written a secret manual for maximum customer confusion. First, a solid product is established for years, which proves its worth to hobbyists and professionals alike, and then – once the reputation has finally been established – the product is gradually replaced with an inferior mixture. Of course, the packaging remains untouched, because why jeopardize sales with unnecessary honesty? The method is as simple as it is perfidious: the recipe is replaced inconspicuously, without any indication and in the hope that nobody will notice for as long as possible. After all, it takes time for one or two users to become suspicious, for the first temperature differences to give food for thought, and for forums and reviews to be filled with complaints. By then, enough profit will have been made and the next batch can be stretched even further.

But it fits in perfectly with the times. Products are not improved, but “optimized” – a code word for making savings at the expense of quality. Innovation no longer means developing something better, but squeezing even more out of the customer with as little effort as possible. In the past, this was called fraud, today it is called “market adaptation”. Some would simply call it “modern product policy”, a fancy euphemism for the omnipresent goal of demanding more for less. But the joke is that the loyal customers who once opted for the product out of conviction are now simply expected to tacitly accept that they are getting a worse paste for the same price. Anyone who complains will be told that they have just had bad luck – or perhaps that they are simply too incapable of applying the new formulation properly.

But who can blame the manufacturers? As long as the market follows suit and most customers only realize that they have been ripped off when their CPU gets too hot, the method will remain successful. Today, customer trust is no longer capital, but a commodity. It seems as if profit maximization has once again taken precedence over product quality. Instead of investing in the continuous improvement and testing of their products, some manufacturers, like Thermalright now, seem to prefer quick profits. This inevitably leads to disappointed customers and damaged trust. It is unfortunate that once reliable products are losing quality due to such practices. As consumers, we should remain vigilant and adapt our choices accordingly. And that is exactly what today will be about.

The paste from 2025

You’d think there was a secret guideline somewhere for thermal paste manufacturers that says: ‘Write some absurdly high W/mK figure on the packaging – nobody will measure it anyway.’ There is no other explanation for this ongoing madness with completely exaggerated thermal conductivity figures. It’s not as if users have naive ideas. Nobody expects a thermal compound to perform miracles or simulate a direct connection between the CPU and cooler. But when a manufacturer advertises 13.8 W/mK and the reality in 2024 was still around 5 W/mK and is now far, far lower in 2025, then that is simply deception. Not even a creative interpretation of the measurement method can justify such differences – this is simply deliberate deception.

And why does this still work? Because the industry still does not enforce standardised test methods and only a few premium manufacturers follow an unwritten gold standard, which I also implement. Because customers have no way of checking such information themselves if they don’t know my database. And because the market is flooded with product reviews that are based solely on subjective impressions or, at best, on temperatures under some fantasy load conditions. The perfect environment for manufacturers who would rather hire marketing strategists than engineers.

Instead, the market remains a wild west of pseudo-science, where every manufacturer raises the bar a little higher until, in the end, a tube of thermal paste is advertised as 20 W/mK – a value that not even rocket scientists can squeeze into paste. But well, in the end the critical user can only browse through my database, read independent tests and fight his way through the marketing fog. Because one thing is certain: as long as it works, nothing will change.

A nice gimmick is the authenticity check via a QR code. Although the whole thing is only in English, it is actually self-explanatory. But you don’t really need it, because the product is genuine. So it’s genuine bad. If the commercial fraudster sticks the code on himself, it’s nothing more than another marketing ploy to catch fools.

Legal regulations

Placing thermal compound on the market in Germany and the EU requires compliance with strict legal requirements, particularly within the framework of the REACH Regulation (EC No. 1907/2006), which Thermalright is still willfully disregarding. One of the central requirements is the provision of safety data sheets, which must contain detailed information on the chemical properties, potential hazards and safety measures of a product. The lack of such safety data sheets is not only a violation of the legal requirements, but also harbors potential dangers due to improper handling.

This is because the CLP Regulation (EC No. 1272/2008) requires clear labeling of chemical products to provide users with information on hazard classes and precautionary measures at a glance. A lack of labelling makes it difficult for users to recognize the potential risks and react appropriately, which jeopardizes both safety and legal certainty. The registration of substances and mixtures in relevant databases, such as the European Chemicals Register (ECHA database), is also mandatory. This database enables the tracking of chemical substances, their classification and compliance with REACH requirements. The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) is the competent authority in Germany to which companies must register chemicals and submit information. I just hope that a competitor will finally issue a proper warning.

The first attempt failed back in 2024

The Thermalright TF8 was originally positioned as a high-quality thermal compound at a good price, but attempts had already been made in the past to establish an inferior product under this name with the TF8 EX. The market hardly reacted to this, as the quality was not convincing and I had already tested it. Now the TF8 has been tampered with again, which ultimately leads to the original product also losing its good reputation. So if you are looking for a reliable thermal paste, you should cross TF8 off your list – its name no longer stands for quality. You can find out why on the next page.

Thermalright TF8 EX Thermal Paste Review – Same price, lower quantity, poor performance and lower durability as the TF8